John M. Ridland
by George J. Dance John M. Ridland (born 1933) is an English-born American poet, academic, and translator.John M. Ridland, The Hypertexts, Web, Nov. 22, 2012. Life Ridland was born in London in 1933, and grew up in Southern California. He attended Swarthmore College, the University of California, Berkeley, and Claremont Graduate School. He also spent two years in Puerto Rico with the U.S. Army.John M.Ridland, Able Muse, v. 4. Web, Nov. 22, 2012. He taught writing and literature in the English Department and the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for over 40 years. He is now professor emeritus of the college. His poems have appeared in many journals, including Poetry, The Atlantic, Harper's, The Hudson Review, The Dark Horse, Spectrum, The Nation, New Zealand Books, Quadrant (Australia), River Styx, Solo, Askew, Parnassus, and The Hungarian Quarterly. He edited The Little Square Review 1966-1972. His published books include: Fires of Home, Ode on Violence, In the Shadowless Light, Elegy for My Aunt, Palms, Life with Unkie, (Un)Extinguished Lamp/Lampara Anapagada, and A Brahms Card Ballad, which was published in Hungarian translation by the Europa Press three years before it was published by Dowitcher Press in California. He lives in Santa Barbara with his New Zealand-born wife Muriel. The couple wrote And Say What He Is: The Life of a Special Child together. They have two living children and three grandchildren. Translations In 1987 while visiting Hungary, Ridland learned of János Vitéz, a "folk epic" poem by Sándor Petőfi, which he later translated as John the Valiant. In collaboration with Peter Czipott, he continues to translate work by the Hungarian poets Sándor Márai and Miklós Radnóti, including Márai's two-act verse play in rhyming couplets, A Gentleman from Venice, about Giacomo Casanova. Ridland has also translated the Middle English epic poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Two parts of this appeared in the Hudson Review; the full poem was published in 2013 by Taller Martín Pescador in Michoacán, Mexico. Recognition Ridland has received a gold medal from the Arpad Society of Cleveland, Ohio, and the 2010 Balassi Sword Award for his translations of Hungarian literature. Publications Poetry *''Poets of Today VII'' (The mother of the Amazons, and other poems, by Albert Hersling; Fires of home: Poems, by John M. Ridland; Suits for the dead: Poems, by David R. Slavitt). New York: Scribner, 1961. *''Old Fashioned Love Poem''. Menomonie, WI: Ox Head Press, 1967. *''Ode on Violence, and other poems''. Martin, TN: Tennessee Poetry Press, 1969. *''Confidence: An ode''. Napa, CA: Napa Rose Press, 1973. *''The Lazy Man''. Santa Barbara, CA: Christopher's Books, 1975. *''In the Shadowless Light''. Omaha, NE: Abattoir Editions, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1978. *''And Say What He Is: The life of a special child'' (with Muriel Ridland). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1975. *''In the Tangled Grass (el escondidito). La Crosse, WI: Juniper Press, 1978. *''Another Easter. Florence, KY: Robert L. Barth, 1981. *''Elegy for My Aunt: Margaret S. Ridland, Scotland 1884-California 1977''. Omaha, NE: Abattoir Editions, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1981; Florence, KY: R.L. Barth, 1984. *''Black Angel: An old photograph of Los Angeles''. Florence, Ky. : Robert L. Barth, Publisher, 1990? *''Palms: Six ballads''. Santa Barbara, CA: Buckner Press, 1993. *''Sonnets & Such: Poems for the English Club''. Santa Barbara, CA: privately published, 1998. *''Life with Unkie''. Santa Barbara, CA: Mille Grazie Press, 1999. * (Un)Extinguished Lamp = Lampara (an)apagada: letters to Hugo Margenat, Puerto Rican poet, 1933-1957. Santa Barbara, CA : College of Creative Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2000. * Poems of the American West. New York: Knopf, 2002. *''A Brahms Card Ballad: Poems selected for Hungarians''. Santa Barbara, CA: Dowitcher Press, 2007. *''Happy in an Ordinary Thing''. Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2013. *''A. Lincolniad: An epic poem honoring the memory of President Abraham Lincoln''. Ventura, CA: Askew, 2014. Translated *Sándor Petőfi, John the Valiant = János vitéz (bilingual edition). Budapest: Corvina Press, 1999 **''John the Valiant'' (English edition). London: Hesperus Poetry, 2004. *Sándor Márai, The Withering World: Selected poems (translated with Peter V. Czipott). Richmond, VA: Alma Classics, 2013. * Miklós Radnóti, All that Matters at All: Selected poems (translated with Peter V. Czipott & David R. Slavitt). Milwaukee, WI & Urbana, IL: New American Press, 2013. *''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''. Tacambaro, Michoacan, Mexico: Taller Martin Pescador, 2013. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:John Ridland, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 25, 2015. Audio / video *''John M. Ridland: Reading his poems''. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1963. See also List of U.S. poets References Notes External links ;Poems *"My First Villanelle" *John M. Ridland at The Hypertexts *John M. Ridland at the Poetry Foundation ;Books *John Ridland at Amazon.com ;About *John M. Ridland at Poets & Writers *John Ridland Official website Category:20th-century poets Category:American poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Swarthmore College alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Category:People from London Category:American academics